Cheers to the 'rabble-rouser'

Annual Burns Dinner at Fiddler's Hearth Sunday.

Annual Burns Dinner at Fiddler's Hearth Sunday.

January 26, 2007|KATIE KOHLER Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND Fiddler's Hearth is no stranger to Scottish flavor and Celtic entertainment. The Hearth will play host Sunday to its annual Burns Dinner in honor of Scottish national poet Robert Burns. The 6 p.m. dinner, which is generally celebrated on Burns' birthday, will be held three days later this year. Burns, who is known affectionately as "Scotland's best loved bard," wrote such classics as "Auld Lang Syne" and various folk songs and poems. These Burns dinners, which have been celebrated around the world since the poet's death in 1796, started locally in South Bend in 2000 at St. Patrick's Church through the Celtic Heritage Society. Carol Meehan and her husband, Terry, welcomed the event to their restaurant, Fiddler's Hearth, 127 N. Main St., South Bend, after the church reached capacity and could not accommodate the event any longer. "There is a core group of people that gets bigger and bigger every year," Carol said. The pair, who are expecting another sellout year, make sure their dinner follows the traditional format specific to all Burns Suppers. Some of these traditions include a blessing over the meal, known as a Selkirk traditional toast; a toast to the lasses, which is "tongue-in-cheek;" poetry, and a keynote speaker. The keynote speaker is responsible to speak on Burns' behalf and "preserve his immortal memory," as Carol Meehan put it. This year's speaker is Rosalind Clark, an English professor at Saint Mary's College. "Dr. Clark is involved with most dinners. She is a great fan of Burns and always contributes," Carol said. The highlight of the evening is the address to the haggis, a traditional Scottish dish that Fiddler's prepares annually. The haggis (Scottish sausage), which was Burns' favorite food, is paraded around the room, before the address is made. This year, Graham Lappin, the chair of chemistry at the University of Notre Dame, will address the haggis. Lappin, a Scotland native, has been to Burns Dinners in Scotland, South Bend and plans to attend one in Chicago in February. Fiddler's dinner is "typical," he said, of his previous experiences. "I really enjoy Burns. I don't know why anyone shouldn't," he said. Lappin described the address to the haggis as central to the evening. "There is a dramatic rendition of a poem and then the haggis is exalted ... cutting it up and letting the juices, vapors and smells come out," he said. For Lappin, the dinner is a chance to celebrate Burns as well as his own heritage. "You can always find a few Scots around," he said. It is also one of the few opportunities he gets to eat haggis. "It's very good at Fiddler's. You can never have too much haggis," he said. Above all, however, the dinner is about celebrating the life of a great Scottish poet. "The dinner is a way to keep the memory of Burns alive," he said. Fiddler's Hearth is the only location in South Bend to host Burns Dinners. Burns is an important icon even today. "His poetry stirs the American soul. He was a rabble- rouser (during the Jacobite uprising) in Scotland and his poetry about the rights of the common man kept the rebellion going," Meehan said. For reservations to the dinner, call (574) 232-2853.